KAESTNER Smith, president of the two-year-old Entertainers of Jamaica Association (EJA), said he is in total disagreement with recent assertions made by Karen Smith, head of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians and Affiliates Union (JFMAU), who urged the Government to place a ban on employing foreign nationals in the tourism sector.

According the EJA boss, embarking on such a move would put Jamaica in breach of its obligations as a signatory to the 1973 Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) agreement.

“Caricom was instated to level the playing field options for the Caribbean Community and if we’re receiving [benefits] from this agreement, why would would we cut off others from receiving the same?” the EJA president argued.

He believes locals can benefit from the expertise brought in by work permit holders.

“I do believe work permits are granted in accordance with the law…remember work permits are given out to persons who are offering a different set of skills than what is currently available, and once the permit is granted [local] persons are put alongside these specialists to learn and adapt these new trends and new skill sets. And once the work permit expires there would be reliable persons to promote…A majority of our Jamaican entertainers, from year to year, are on ships; they are in other countries; they are on tours; they are in collaboration with other artistes worldwide; and Jamaican music is the main staple of American pop culture. You would be stopping our opportunities to be able to receive considerations for work permits,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Last week, the JFMAU head asserted that as Jamaica begins to reopen its borders to foreigners, and ease restrictions to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections, the entertainment and creative sectors are left in the process of trying to figure out how to get back to work.

She said one area of discontent within the tourism entertainment sector in Jamaica has been the importation of talent from other countries like Cuba and Dominican Republic.

“For nearly 10 years local dance groups, variety acts, singers, and bands have been shut out of employment, replaced by foreigners with work permits for large entertainment companies and Spanish hotels,” said Smith.

“Jamaican entertainers have been underemployed within the sector for far too long, making them even more vulnerable during this time of crisis. What will happen regarding job availability when the sector reopens? That uncertainty continues to plague entertainment practitioners whose plight has worsened in the face of COVID-19,” she added.

The EAJ president, meanwhile, who has been playing bass on the hotel circuit since 1997, believes Jamaica’s entertainment sector should adapt to meet the current realities.

“There has been an informal set-up in the entertainment industry for close to 30 years. So what needs to happen, entertainers need to understand that the world is globalising and we need to adjust and adapt to the formal, systematical set-up to make ourselves part of a directory — in this case, the Entertainment Registry… All our members have signed up with the Government’s entertainment registry, so that when a certain skill set is needed, they just have to refer to the database of entertainers. This is the way forward. This is the fix,” he said.

Formed in November 2018, the EJA has 279 members. It aims to create a better entertainment product so its members can live and earn comfortably.